Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre€¦ · its robust and stable properties. The finished boards have a rough-sawn finish, and will be left untreated, allowing them

Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre

Cover Photo: Cindy Blazevic

Photo Above: Tom Arban Table of Contents3 Introduction

4 Design

4 Environmental Certification

5 Building Description

7 Net-positive Energy and Environmental Features

8 Structural Materials

8 Exterior Finishes

9 Interior Finishes

9 Meeting Building Code Requirements

10 Advantages of Building with Wood

10 Conclusion

11 Project Team

2 Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre

IntroductionThe Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre (Education Centre) was planned and built to educate residents of the Regional Municipality of York about the importance of natural resources and forest ecosystems. The Regional Municipality of York, located on the Oak Ridges Moraine between Toronto and Lake Simcoe, includes the York Regional Forest, which is internationally recognized as a leader in site restoration and forest management, and is the first public forest in Canada to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The Education Centre is located in the Hollidge Tract, just one of twenty-three tracts that make up the York Regional Forest (Figure 1).

Constructed of wood and accented with stone, the Education Centre reflects the materials of the surrounding forest. The use of wood in the design was integral to the building’s performance and appropriate to its function as a forest education centre.

FIGURE 1 Site Plan

5 10 15 20 25 50m

N

Education CentreGarage

Hollidge Tract,York Regional Forest

Highway 48

Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre 3

DesignWorkshops and design charrettes were conducted to identify project goals and targets. The design team included not only architects, engineers, and interior designers, but also forest education experts, arborists, and ecologists. The following targets were established to achieve high levels of sustainability within budget constraints:

• A high-performance building envelope to reduce heating and cooling loads, including highly insulated walls (R40) and roof (R60) combined with triple pane, argon-filled window glazing;

• Window-to-wall ratio limited to below 30% to minimize heat loss;

• Window positioning to maximize natural lighting;

• East-west orientation, south-facing glazing and large over-hangs to maximize solar heat gain in winter and minimize it in summer;

• Energy reduction strategies such as continuous dimming of lighting systems in suitable areas, heat recovery ventilation, LED lighting, and low-energy-use electrical equipment;

• Net-zero water use based on captured rainwater to supply toilets and urinals and a biological filtration device to treat all wastewater on-site; and,

• Renewable energy provided by a roof-mounted solar panel array to generate 38 mWh of clean energy annually.

Environmental CertificationThe Education Centre, is targeting LEED® Platinum certifi-cation. The building is also expected to be the first Living Building Challenge (LBC) project in Ontario, and one of only a few world-wide to achieve full certification (see textbox above).

Full seven-petal status under the Living Building Challenge (LBC) is considered the world’s most demanding sustain-ability certification program. To achieve the LBC certification, buildings must meet specific requirements in the seven areas (petals): site, water, energy, health, materials, equity and beauty. Within these petals are 20 imperatives, prescriptive or performance-based goals that contribute to the overarching goals of sustainability and regeneration.

Full LBC certification is an ongoing process. The Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre will be required to be open for at least 12 months and pass through a rigorous auditing process before it receives its official LBC designation.

Materials were selected for: strength, durability, beauty, ability to reach the environmental targets identified by the client, and the LEED® and Living Building Challenge certification require-ments. Wood was used extensively for both the structure and the interior and exterior finishes.

The Living Building Challenge™ is the built environment’s most rigorous performance standard. It calls for the creation of building projects at all scales that operate as cleanly, beautifully and efficiently as nature’s architecture. To be certified under the Challenge, projects must meet a series of ambitious performance requirements over a minimum of 12 months of continuous occupancy. Net-zero energy certification is based on actual performance rather than modeled outcomes.

At the time of printing (Spring, 2016), only 21 projects have achieved certification through the Living Building Challenge, five of which have achieved full certification. (Several others have entered the twelve-month operational phase required prior to audit.)

www.living-future.org/lbc


N

1

0

2 3 4 5 10m

Multi-Purpose Room

Kitchenette

EntranceVestibule

Lobby/Reception

Admin

Classroom

HotellingStation

Circulation

Mech

Women WC

Men WCStorage

MudRoom

Electrical Storage

Shower

IT/Phone

Self-tapping screws

Horizontal Z girts

Wood strapping stained black (TYP)

Thermally isolated clips for Z girt support

Glulam column

734 mm long reclaimed wood strappingwith stainless steel fasteners

Vertical wood strapping

Horizontal Z girt

2 layers rigid insulation

Membrane air/vapour barrier

CLT wall panel

Building DescriptionThe single-storey, 371 m2 (4,000 ft.2) building includes space for corporate meetings and community educational programs (Figure 2).

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels are the structural elements for the exterior walls (Figure 3) and are also their exposed interior finish. The insulation is located on the exterior of the CLT walls and the cladding is reclaimed Douglas fir.

FIGURE 2 Floor plan

FIGURE 3 Typical wall section

Photo: Evan Dion Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre 5

Unlike most post-and-beam structures, the structural beams are located above the CLT roof (Figure 4) to provide interior clearance and a clean appearance for the ceiling. The glulam columns that support the beams have a shoulder at the top over which the CLT roof panels were placed. The shoulder does not provide structural support for the CLT panels; it provides a gap-free joint between the columns and the roof panels. The CLT roof panels and the entire structural load of the roof are suspended from the glulam beams by means of self-tapping, engineered screws and bolts.

The attachment system for the solar collector racks used con-crete ballast for hold-down and therefore the roof membrane did not need to be penetrated by mechanical fasteners.

Glulam beam

Thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) roof membrane

Protective board

Rigid insulation

Air/vapour barrier

Plywood roof support

Wood stud knee walls

CLT roof panels

Glulam column

FIGURE 4 Typical roof section

Photo: Cindy Blazevic


Electrical system:Photovoltaic solar panelsw/ micro-invertersNet meterGrid connectionDisplacement fanAir conditioning

Thermal system:Solar heat gainDeep overhang shadingRadiant �oorWood burning hearthHeat recovery ventilatorNatural ventilationTriple-glazed window assembly

Insulation:

R60 roof assembly

R40 wall assembly

R30 insulated slab

Electricity Generation/Use:[Predicated]

[Annual]

Net Positive

[October–May]

[April–September]

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

1

2

3

4

5

+12Mwh

+28Mwh

-10Mwh

-22Mwh

+8Mwh/yr

Net-positive Energy and Environmental FeaturesThe Education Centre is designed to generate more energy than it uses and feeds excess renewable power back into the grid. This is made possible through the energy generation of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels, and energy conserving features such as a high-performance building envelope, heat recovery ventilators, and LED and natural lighting.

Figure 5 shows the energy exchange for the winter and summer periods. On an annual basis, the Education Centre is expected to have a net positive energy balance of 8 mWh. This predicted energy performance will be monitored in support of the Living Building Challenge application.

Heating energy is provided by a wood-burning masonry fire-place fueled by locally collected deadfall — but, in accordance with LBC requirements, the wood heating is not a significant contributor to the energy performance of the building.

FIGURE 5


GROUNDWELL

BIO F ILTERS

SEPTIC BED

STORMWATER

FIRE RESERVOIR

SUN

Operablewindows

Durable 90 yearservice life

Access toexterior views

Waste watertreated on site

Collected rain waterused for toilets

and urinals

Locally sourcedFSC-certi�ed wood

Exhaust airheat recovery

Clerestorywindows provide

daylighting

ENERGYWATERMATERIALSHEALTH

In-�oor electricheating

Materials/surfacesmimic forest

patterns

No ‘Red List’materials

RenewablePV power

FIGURE 6 Figure 6 shows the environmental systems and features that support the Living Building Challenge application. In addition to net-positive energy balance, the building is expected to achieve ‘net-zero’ water performance.

The facility relies exclusively on water provided by nature. Roof-collected rain flows into a cistern that provides water for toilets and urinals. Groundwater wells supply water which undergoes UV filtration prior to its use in sinks and showers. Waste water passes through a treatment system which relies on aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and a biofilter to cleanse it of pollutants. The forested location of the building makes this process possible.

Structural MaterialsThe structure was built almost entirely of black spruce glulam and cross-laminated timber (CLT), all of which was FSC certified.

The CLT panels allowed the provision of significant roof cantilevers (over 2.8 meters in length) while maintaining a thin profile, and supporting the live and dead loads, such as PV solar panels and snow. Along the north elevation the support-ing glulam structure was hidden (see Figure 4) by placing it above the CLT panels. To further enhance the natural beauty of the CLT, all connections are hidden, resulting in a monolithic interior appearance of the underside of the panel above.

Exterior FinishesThe Education Centre features reclaimed wood as the principal exterior cladding material. The wood cladding was salvaged and re-purposed by a local company specializing in salvaging construction materials from decommissioned buildings in Ontario. The design team selected Douglas fir for its robust and stable properties. The finished boards have a rough-sawn finish, and will be left untreated, allowing them to weather naturally within their forest environment. The exterior also features interpretive and educational wood panels made from 12 York Regional Forest wood species.


GROUNDWELL

BIO F ILTERS

SEPTIC BED

STORMWATER

FIRE RESERVOIR

SUN

Operablewindows

Durable 90 yearservice life

Access toexterior views

Waste watertreated on site

Collected rain waterused for toilets

and urinals

Locally sourcedFSC-certi�ed wood

Exhaust airheat recovery

Clerestorywindows provide

daylighting

ENERGYWATERMATERIALSHEALTH

In-�oor electricheating

Materials/surfacesmimic forest

patterns

No ‘Red List’materials

RenewablePV power

Interior FinishesThe predominant interior finish is the exposed surfaces of the CLT wall and roof panels. The CLT and glulam columns are coated with a zero-VOC stain, which is used on all exposed surfaces. Several featured interior wall panels are clad in maple-veneered FSC plywood. These panels are located within the administrative areas of reception and open office workstations. Similarly, the open office areas are separated from the circulation corridor by a series of horizontal maple louvres which are supported on a metal frame.

Reclaimed ash salvaged from the area is used for the main entry reception desk as an educational feature. It retains the tracks of the emerald ash borer insects that have devastated ash forests in Ontario. The ash was treated to prevent further infestation.

In addition to enhancing both the exterior and interior structure and finishes of the Education Centre, specific wood products were selected for the environmental benefits they brought to the project.

Meeting Building Code RequirementsThe Education Centre is categorized as Group D, up to 2 stories. At one storey and an area less than 1,000 m2, it is permitted to be of combustible construction and is not sprinklered.

The numerous floor-to-ceiling windows created a challenge for developing adequate shearwall strength. Strength was provided by using tie-down connections and vertical reinforc-ing plates for the portions of CLT walls between the windows.

“Almost every building harms our environment, whether it is through the use of toxic building materials, the use of energy and water to operate it, or the disposal of materials when it is torn down. We wanted to create a building that could function like a forest ecosystem, be an integral part of nature and enhance it.”

Craig Applegath, Principal, Architecture, DIALOG.

Photo: Tom Arban


Advantages of Building with WoodCLT and glulam are fully renewable, heavy-duty building materials. Their production creates only a fraction of the carbon emis-sions that are created by the production of other commonly used construction materials such as steel and concrete, and the wood fibre sequesters and stores significant amounts of carbon. Although they do contain somewhat more embodied energy than solid timber, the laminating process allows timber

to be used for much longer spans and heavier loads, therefore reducing the amount of raw material required for a project.

Using sustainably harvested wood products that store carbon, instead of non-renewable, energy-intensive building materials that require large amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture, can help slow climate change. Trees provide the only major build-ing material grown by energy from the sun.

The on-line Carbon Calculator tool (www.woodworks.org/design-and-tools/design-tools/online-calculators/) calculates the amount of carbon prevented from entering the environ-ment when wood construction is used instead of other major building materials. The carbon calculation for the Bill Fisch Stewardship and Education Centre is shown on the left. The carbon benefit of the wood structure is equivalent to taking 46 cars off the road for one year or, expressed differently, the energy to operate a home for 21 years. And this does not include the carbon emissions avoided due to not using fossil fuels for heating and cooling over the service life of the building.

ConclusionBy targeting LEED® Platinum certification and full Living Building Challenge certification, the Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre is in rare company, especially for a non-residential building. The project advances the use of engineered wood products in small commercial buildings by using cross-laminated timber (CLT) for the walls and roof. By showcasing the interior surfaces of the CLTs and the generous use of maple veneer and other wood products, the interior provides a warm, natural ambiance well-suited for a forest education centre. On the exterior, the re-purposed exterior wood cladding provides a high level of visual interest that suits the forest setting.

Carbon Summary

Results

Volume of wood products used:

180 m3

U.S. and Canadian forests grow this much wood in:

1 minutes

Carbon stored in the wood:

128 metric tons of carbon dioxide

Avoided greenhouse gas emissions:


Total potential carbon benefit:


Equivalent to:

46 cars off the road for a year

Energy to operate a home for 21 years

Project Name: Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre

Date: February 18, 2016

Results from this tool are estimates of average wood volumes only.

Detailed life cycle assessments (LCA) are required to accurately

determine a building's carbon footprint. Please refer to the

References and Notes' for assumptions and other information

related to the calculations.


Project Team

Owner The Regional Municipality of York 17250 Yonge Street Newmarket, ON L3Y 6Z1 www.york.ca

Architect, Interior Design and Mechanical, Electrical and Structural Engineering DIALOG 2 Bloor Street East Suite 1100 Toronto, ON M4W 1A8 Tel: 416-966-0220 www.dialogdesign.ca

Civil Engineering MTE 1016 Sutton Drive, Unit A Burlington, ON L7L 6B8 Tel: 905-639-2552 www.mte85.com

Building Envelope Dr. Ted Kesik, P.Eng. Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto www.daniels.utoronto.ca

CLT and Glulam Supplier Nordic Structures Inc. 504-1100 Canadiens-de-Montréal Avenue Montréal, QC H3B 2S2 Tel: 514-871-8526 www.nordic.ca

Photo: Tom Arban


Wood WORKS! is a Canadian Wood Council initiativewww.cwc.ca

Ontario Wood WORKS!: 1-866-886-3574Alberta Wood WORKS!: 1-780-392-1952BC Wood WORKS!: 1-877-929-WOOD (9663) Quebec — cecobois: 1-418-650-7193Atlantic Wood WORKS!: 1-902-667-3889Wood WORKS! National Office: 1-800-463-5091US Program: [email protected]

www.wood-works.ca

NATIONAL FUNDERS

PROVINCIAL PARTNERS

Photo: Cindy Blazevic

Bill Fisch Forest Stewardship and Education Centre€¦ · its robust and stable properties. The finished boards have a rough-sawn finish, and will be left untreated, allowing them

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